losing momentum, the chinese economy slows down to its lowest rate of growth in three years. economists are wondering whether it might be time to retool the world's factory. the people at china's national bureau of statistics said growth is slowing. the rate hit its lowest levels since early 2009. gross domestic product grew 7.4% in the july to september quarter over the same period last year. the rate slowed for a seventh straight quarter. some analysts point to the debt crisis in europe for dragging down experts. others argue consumers are

worried about what they see up ahe ahead. >> china's economy is maintaining a high growth rate and emerging as a key force of the global economy. but the lingering debt programs in europe have taken a toll of the chinese economy. some analysts say the major fracture behind china's throwdown is a sharp drop in its exports of the chinese economy. that as the eurozone debt crisis continues. europe is china's biggest trading partner. consumers are uncertain about the future. chinese premiere warned the country's growth target in march to 7.5%. based on the fact of too fast growth. the level is down from last two years 8%.

china apparently hopes to change its economic structure. >> we'll attach more importance to stable growth and keep implementing current policies. we'll adjust industries that are already growing and promote their development. we'll strengthen the foundations of sustainable healthy growth. >> china's central bank has been trying to prop up economy by cutting the key interest rates. the bank's policy maker in june and again in july announced. china is preparing for major change in its leadership in november when the communist party meets for national congress. the country's leaders want to maintain economic and social stability. many inside and outside the country wonder whether chinese

leaders will take additional measures. >> thank you very much. greeks have a message for leaders of the european union. they say another round of wage and pension cuts will only make things worse for them. greek leaders are set to agree with international creditors on tougher austerity measures in exchange for more help. representatives of the international monetary fund released a statement after meeting with greek officials. it said all sides agree on an austerity package worth 14 billion euros. the creditors say they expect negotiators to finalize the details within a few days. both sides need to work through some labor market reforms and other issues. the officials are expected to push back a decision on the further bailout of more than 31 billion euros. the finance minister is expected

to discuss that package when they meet next month. a sting operation has thwarted an attempted terrorist attack in new york. officials arrested a bangladesh man who attempted to blow up the federal reserve bank. the fbi got a tip that a man was plotting an attempt and trying to contact al qaeda. the 21-year-old entered the u.s. in january. the fbi found out the man was targeting new york's financial district. federal agents involved in the sting gave him 450 kilograms of fake explosives. investigators watched as the man parked a vehicle loaded with a marked bomb near the bank. he tried to detonate it using the mobile phone. federal prosecutors have charged the man with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. the european union's health and consumer policy commissioner has resigned over its scandal. the scandal broke out just after

the european union was awarded the nobel peace prize last week. the anti-fraud office said john dalai knew of, but tolerated an attempt between a businessman to use his connection with the prime minister. he has been engaged in drafting new legislation on regulating smokeless tobacco. he denies any wrongdoing, but resigned from the post after the ant anti-fraud office reported to the european commission on tuesday. the european union explained that the scandal will have no impact on its policy making process. its reportedly the first time in 13 years that an eu commissioner has stepped down due to corruption. the u.n. and arab league envoy hope to have a truce during the muslim holiday.

a pause in the fighting would alleviate the sorrow of the syrian people. he insists opposition commanders will support a cease-fire if they stop attacks. some fear this would only give them breathing room. a spokesperson said government officials are considering the proposal. he's expects to visit de mass cass to try to get both sides to agree to the truce. rahimi received support from the president of iran, mahmoud ahmadinejad, backed his proposal. ahmadinejad said a cease-fire and negotiations on free elections is the right road to resolution. he expressed support brokered by rahimi when they met sunday in tehran. the spokesperson said, they hope both sides in the conflict will act responsibly for the sake of the country and the syrian

people. the body of cambodia's king has been returned to the capital of phnom penh. he led the country to independence and through a civil war. the king's body was flown home from beijing. he died of a heart attack on monday in the chinese capital. he had been there undergoing medical treatment. more than 200,000 mourners lined the road from the airport to the royal palace. he ascended to the thrown at the age of 18. he was expelled from his country twice. he was placed under house arrest during the reign of the khmer rouge in the late 1970s. he led the country until eight years ago. >> the king did a wonderful job of rebuilding our country. because of him we now live in peace. >> the king is now lying in state at the palace. mourners will have three months to pay their respects before a

state funeral. he was 89. now cubans who dream of going abroad may have an easier time on getting out. >> officials said the change will take effect in january. up to now, people hoping to travel needed to show an invitation from someone in the destination country. cubans will be required to have a passport as well as a visa from the country they plan to visit. people in certain professions will see stricter travel limits. the new measures could help stimulate cuba's chronically sluggish economy. critics note that the government says it will issue passports on a case by case basis.

bullying in south korea has become a serious social problem. victims often skip going to school, some even commit suicide. now, bullying is on the rise. and the number of young people seeking help is also going up. schools have come up with a novel idea to zeal with the problem. >> reporter: this school offers counselling to students who have either bullied or been victimized by it. the center gives ongoing counselling to groups and individuals. the aim is to prevent repeat occurrenc occurrences. >> counselling centers that deal with bullying have become widespread in the past few years. they're about 350 across the

country. students of this junior high school in seoul also experienced bullying. this is one of the students here. at home, she recalls what it was like to be bullied. when she started junior high school a group of students bullied her and gave her the cold shoulder. to stop the ordeal she joined the group and began victimizing others. >> i didn't know when i bullied someone. it can be a habit. so students can't deal with this on their own. >> reporter: to deal with the escalating issue of bullying, this junior high school in seoul has been holding mock trials to get students thinking about the problem. this school has been holding mock trials since last march. the judges, the prosecutors,

defense council and jury are all student students. students create scrapes based on incidents that have actually happened and use them in the mock trials. this time a bully using a box cutter had threatened his classmate. >> i only did it because he didn't object. i would have stopped if he had said no. he must have been too scared to even say no. >> these mock trials give all students who participate a chance to reflect on bullying from a variety of viewpoints. at the end of the trial, the student claimed the accused admitted her guilt. after the trial, the student underwent a transformation. >> translator: through this, i

can understand other students and get alongwell with them. so my school life is much better now. >> due to increasing concern over this kind of abuse. 600 schools nationwide now hold these mock trials. >> translator: there's been a significant change in attitude among the students. through mock trials, they've learned to obey the rules and think before acting wrongly. there's been a big decrease in bullying. >> south korea's government increased next year's education budget by almost 60% to deal with bullying at school. students have every right to be protected on school grounds and they're the country's future. nhk world seoul.

the weak global economy is forcing companies to look for new markets to grow. even so, pakistan doesn't seem like an obvious choice. that hasn't discouraged a group of japanese companies from taking a closer look. >> a city in eastern pakistan. a garment factory, 150 men make uniforms for judo and karate. they work for a japanese company that moved its production base here in july from china. >> translator: we are starting to receive orders from companies in europe as well as japan because of rising costs in

china. >> pakistan's population is said to keep growing for the foreseeable future. more and more japanese companies see it as a promising market a japanese company has formed a joint venture with a local firm. their new factory began operations this month. a proud manufacture -- >> this is a huge market of 1 will 0 million people. the per capita kwon assumption is just 130 kilograms. we can expect steel to grow sharply. >> the biggest obstacle to doing business in pakistan is poor security. in the southern city of karachi,

gun crime is rampant. in karachi, when japanese people go out by car. they usually take an armed security guard with them. this serves as a representative for a japanese company is one of them. he started traveling with an armed guard in june on the orders of his ememployer. he keeps cash in the car to offer in case he's robbed. >> this is a dummy purse with small amounts of cash. not having any cash could be dangerous. so i always keep this in the car. >> reporter: japanese corporations are making a calculated bet that expansion in pakistan is worth the risk and they feel welcome in a country where anti-u.s. sentiments run

deep. pakistani president spoke to more than 30 corporate officials from japan at his office. he promised to support japanese companies doing business in the country. pakistan is a member of the so-called next level of countries that businesses believe have potential to follow the bricks in the next wave of emerging economies. japanese firms hope to make inroads into the pakistani market by pitching their technology and know how. scientists in the u.s. have developed a blood test that predicts whether a child will be born with downs syndrome. some have raised questions about the ethics. david hess reports from new york. >> reporter: last year, scientists at this california

based biotechnology company introduced a revolutionary blood test. it's said to be 99% accurate in determining whether a child would be born with downs syndrome. the test is for women over 10 weeks pregnant. it detects chromosomal anomalies in the fetal dna in their blood. researchers at the company have been busy. they're analyzing blood from the netherlands. the czech republic, israel and other countries. until now, this kind of screening mainly required amniocentesis. sticking a needle into the uterus to extract fluid. but such tests run a.3 risk of miscarriage. the new test carries no risk. andrea has miscarried in the past. when she was pregnant again she chose the new test.

her results were negative. and she had a healthy boy this may. >> i think by getting a yes or a no it will help the parents prepare for what their life is about to encompass. >> good or bad, the test raises questions. u.s. health institutes are now helping women handle the results. genetic counselors who specialize in prenatal testing work with obstetricians to educate patients on chromosomal anomalies. they also work with support networks after the birth. >> whatever the patient decides, we help them go forward with that, and make sure that's the right decision for them. >> reporter: counselling staff are increasing in the u.s. they now number over 1800. >> the tests may soon be available in japan. here too, people are debating the ethics.

>> researchers at this tokyo hospital are preparing a clinical trial. >> we take a blood sample of 20 cc's and send it to the testing company in the u.s. >> the number of japanese women aged 35 and over having babies has roughly doubled over the past decade to more than 250,000 per year. for this age group, the chances of a fetus acquiring down syndrome rise significantly. only a few percent of japanese women currently undergo prenatal testing. the new safer test may increase this figure. but more testing means an increasing number of expectant parents will learn their fetus may have downs syndrome. what japan still lacks is a support system for decision making for women who test positive. this couple in their 40s learned

their baby would have down syndrome. but no advice was available. they gathered as much information as they could on their own. finally they found a specialist to consult. after studying what down syndrome meant they decided to have the baby. >> there was no information. and i didn't know anything about children with downs syndrome. the thought that i might have given up on my pregnancy scares me. >> this month, members of the japan society of obstetrics and gynecology established a committee to create guidelines so that the test is administered conscientiously. doctors say the tests should be limited to pregnant women and those at high risk over the age

of 35. they say counselors should provide women with information they need to understand disability disabilities. the world's tallest broadcast tower has become the world's tallest lightning rod. researchers placed a system about 500 meters up the 634 meter tower. that's the highest lightning observation post on the man made structure. the system measures electric currents and patents. the researchers installed it in march. it's already recorded eight lightning strikes. they hope the system will help them unravel the mysteries associated with lightning strikes. >> there's not enough data on lightning. i'm looking forward to seeing what kind of information we can gather. >> scientists say the research may help them develop electronic devices that are not affected by lightning. >> people in japan's northeast

are focused on overcoming the challenges of the 2011 disaster. it won't be easy, they have to rebuild homes, businesses, entire communities. we'll show you their struggles and successes on the road ahead, every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. japan time here on newsline. >> let's turn now to the world weather forecast, including the latest of that storm that's lingering in the western pacific for quite a while now. tropical system has been with us for more than a week, producing stormy weather in the okinawa region. gail force winds will remain into tonight. waves could hit six meters tonight. stormy conditions will dissipate as we head into tonight. it looks like it's going to move south of japan into friday. on and off showers are continuing. in addition to the thunderstorm, strong winds and also high waves

are possible. the rest of japan dry. but we have snow showers coming in as cooling air comes in from the north. a cooler temperature also can be found across parts of the northeastern china as well as mongolia. nice clear autumn skies for the peninsula. the monsoonal season has ended in many areas. we have a strong low pressure system across north america. sitting by the great lakes region producing wet and windy weather the the line is producing a risk of severe weather in the central and northern mississippi river valley. two tornados were reported in arkansas. conditions will remain stormy into tonight. and then the severe weather risk should be moving into the northeast as we head into friday. back behind it, very windy,

we've had high wind alerts, high wind warnings and watches out in the high plains. so gusts could hit 120 kilometers per hour, that's strong enough to topple trees and damage properties. out toward the west, nice clear skies for the west. but a series of low pressure systems moving into british columbia, producing wet and windy conditions, and you may see some snow in the higher elevations. because of the rain, temperatures are on the cooler side in vancouver, only 12 degrees. meanwhile, 17 in seattle, to the south, unseasonably hot conditions remaining in los angeles, coming in at 31 degrees on your thursday. out toward the east, nice and comfortable along the eastern seaboard. 23 in washington, d.c.. finally, let's go over to europe. we are seeing a completely different picture between the u.s. and the rest of europe.

this high pressure system is quite strong and stubborn, these low pressure systems cannot move toward the east. that means unstable weather will continue across the region as we head into the weekend. meanwhile nice clear skies for the rest of europe. temperatures much average than average. 17 degrees in vienna. meanwhile dropping down into the mid teens in lisbon. it should be cooling down into 15 degrees as we head into your friday. that is the weather for now. up next is your three-day outlook.

one more story before we go. the french queen marie antoinette is known for a life of luxury. now a pair of her slippers has sold for more than $80,000. about 80 of the queens personal items were put out for auction in paris. the event was held on the anniversary of her execution in 1793. the pair of silk shoes fetched over 62,000 euros, about 6 times the projected price. a fragment of her silk dress also sold for about $8,000. marie antoinette was married to king louie the 16th, she was convicted of treason and executed by guillotine. that's all for now on this edition of newsline. thank you very much for joining us.